Emmylou Harris’ hit “Boulder to Birmingham” resonated with audiences when it was released in the mid-1970s, emerging from a deeply personal period of grief after the loss of a dear friend.
Having been one of the lead musicians in the country rock genre, Harris originally started as a folk artist before moving to New York City in the 1960s. She soon met one of music’s greatest artists, Gram Parsons, who encouraged her to explore a more country rock sound. It also marked the start of a beloved friendship.
Parsons was well-known for having worked with icons like The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers before embarking on a solo career. That career is what led him to Harris in Washington, D.C., where she had a regular gig at a club. He was looking for a female harmony singer and had an impromptu jam session with her at the club, singing Hank Williams’s “I Saw the Light.”
Sadly, Parsons died in 1973 at the age of 26 from a drug and alcohol overdose.
His death led Harris to pen the track “Boulder to Birmingham” in 1975 about the grief of losing Parsons. The song became one of the only self-written works of her career.
“It’s not like I set out to write a song about Gram, but it was inspired by some of the feelings I had after his death,” she said, according to Colorado Music.
She added that the song “fell out of the sky” and she didn’t “labor over it. Lamenting over the loss of her friend, Harris said: “Gram really bequeathed me an extraordinary life.”
The country track was released as part of her Pieces of the Sky album and co-written by Bill Dandoff. While Dandoff may have been an odd choice as a songwriting partner, the two met in Washington, D.C. before Harris met Parsons. “Boulder to Birmingham” failed to enter the charts, but did the job of evoking deep-rooted emotions and became a signature track.
“That song was very important,” she said to The Guardian. “Words can be so powerful to help you express something you otherwise can’t. And everyone has experienced loss, so even though the song is deeply personal, I can understand how people can relate to it, having lost someone who is very close to them.”
When it comes to the song’s title, it’s also connected to her history with Parsons. She explained that their first gig was in Boulder at the Edison Electric Company. They had gotten fired from that club, having forgotten to “work up beginnings, middles and ends of songs.” They then traveled up the mountains to Nederland.
The popular track became a country staple that was covered by Scott Walker that same year, and the Starland Vocal Band a year later. Dolly Parton also released her cover in 1976, with Joan Baez cutting her version for a live album. Rolling Stone once ranked the track as one of the “Greatest Country Songs of All Time.”
Related: 1977 Rock Hit, Co-Written by Iggy Pop and David Bowie, Ranked Among ‘Greatest Songs of All Time’
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